


Butterfly Kiss

by clandestine7



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M, dorks in the throes of young love!, help they're so dorky!!, really dorky dorks!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-31
Updated: 2014-01-31
Packaged: 2018-01-10 17:17:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1162392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clandestine7/pseuds/clandestine7
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rei is a good kisser, though not always. Rin likes him too much to care. (Or: Rin and Rei are losers and a butterfly kiss is attempted.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Butterfly Kiss

**Author's Note:**

  * For [whispylala](https://archiveofourown.org/users/whispylala/gifts).



> For whispylala, who requested either Rin or Rei give the other a butterfly kiss. I literally screamed when I read the prompt it just filled me with so many feelings. I hope you like it!! (My major fear: somewhere in this I've missed a place where I called Rei 'Rin', or Rin 'Rei').

 

Rei is a walking encyclopedia, and has to fold his socks together first thing out of the wash, and wears butterfly fucking pajamas, and once wore orange suspenders with green pants – Rin’s pretty sure he’s got a screw loose somewhere.

And that’s not even mentioning the tucked in uniform shirt. The double-knotted shoes. The backpack with all those safety straps. All that nerdy _stuff_ that comes out of his mouth – stuff that, honestly, Rin wishes he could tune out half the time.

But Rin still likes him. A lot. Too much. Absurdly way too much.

Rei gives him butterflies.

It’s so damn cliché he wants to scream, but also curl up in a ball and grin at his knees because it’s such a _nice_ feeling – monumental and stupid and he likes the way Rei calls him _Rin-san_ more than he’d ever admit.

They’re sitting on the floor in his dorm room, he and Rei alone. The window lets in the afternoon sun, making everything glow as they work on homework.

Except Rei’s the only one actually working on homework. Rin’s been glancing at the wrinkle of concentration on Rei’s forehead, at the way Rei’s eyebrows furrow down to meet the frame of his glasses.

He’s trying to be discreet, and trying not to think about kissing him. Which is really hard when Rei won’t stop tapping his damn pencil against his mouth.

Their knees are a few feet apart, and Rin’s homework is woefully blank. He’s thinking about Rei’s glasses wedged against his cheekbone. The kiss after practice yesterday – and thank god for spring weather and joint practices. His fingers crumpling the front of Rei’s uniform shirt, and the wordless sound of disgruntlement Rei had made, pulling back to pry the fingers away. How he had used the moment to take off Rei’s glasses, and there had been the lightest brush of teeth on his lower lip when Rei had leaned back in.  

“How come you kiss so well?” he blurts. Very, very loudly in what was very complete silence. The thing that had been curling warm and fuzzy in his stomach dies in horror.

Rei looks up from his textbook, blinks a few times. Sun hits the side of his face, makes him a bit bleary.

“Am I a good kisser?” he asks. His eyebrows rise, all innocent curiosity, as though Rin’s just complimented his ability to answer one of his homework problems.

Rin wishes he could swallow his words. _No, god, are you kidding?_ he’d say with a snort and a roll of his eyes, playing it cool and then starting his homework.

But Rei lets out a little chortle. His glasses catch the light. There’s a tuft of hair sticking straight out above his left ear, from the many times he’s scratched his head in frustration. Rin wants to touch it, flatten it, run his fingers over the shell of Rei’s ear.

Punch himself in the face. 

“Well, I can assure you that the mechanics of kissing are not something I have studied,” Rei says, lifting his chin smugly. “If my kissing is so satisfactory, it can only mean I possess a natural talent.” He pushes up his glasses. “I do possess many natural talents.”

Rin scowls at him for a long moment, which takes a great deal of effort. “You aren’t impressing me.”

“Are you suggesting that you want me to kiss you?”

Rin scoffs. Tries to think of a refute, comes up blank, and scoffs again.

“Rin-san?”

Rin crosses his arms, turns his face away. He has nowhere to go, with the bed at his back. A little scoot forward and their knees would be touching. “Jeez, don’t call me ‘san’.”

“It’s perfectly acceptable for you to want me to kiss you. It’s only natural, even expected, due to your feelings for me. And as those feelings are reciprocated, there really is no reason to feel shy about wanting to kiss me. Kissing is a pleasant activity, after all, and has even been shown to have desirable health effects. Stress reduction, for example.”

The words spin through Rin’s head, and he grimaces at the wall. “Why are you such a fucking dork?” he says, and then he turns a warning glare on Rei. “And I’m not shy.”

Rei’s smile is soft, amusement warm and affectionate in his eyes. “Well, as an advocate for stress reduction, I am perfectly content to kiss you if you would like.”  

“Never said I wanted to kiss you,” Rin says, looking away again, a dangerous heat in his cheeks that might be more than just the sun beaming onto them. He feels Rei’s eyes on him, can _feel_ Rei’s smile like he can feel the jitters in his stomach.

“Rin-san, you are quite an enigma,” Rei says at last, almost a sigh, and then Rin hears him turn a page.

He tries not to feel too disappointed. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he mutters, looking back to see Rei hunched over his textbook again.

Rei turns another page. “I suppose it means that you are appealing to me, despite the fact that I find you very difficult to comprehend at times.”

Rin frowns. The jitters jitter more strongly. “I’m appealing, eh?”

“I would say so, yes,” Rei says with a nod.

Rin bites his lip, takes a breath, and then, before he can stop himself: “What’s so appealing about me? And no saying I’m beautiful.”

Rei doesn’t answer right away, eyes still on his textbook. He taps the pages with his pencil. “I suppose…I like your temper.”

“My –” Rin splutters. “The fuck’s that supposed to mean? My _temper_?”

“Yes.” Rei takes a notebook out of his backpack, places it next to him and starts to scribble something in it. “You allow yourself to be riled up at the smallest provocation. I believe it’s because you are very passionate about things. Which I find quite alluring.”

“Alluring,” Rin repeats.

“What do you find appealing about me, Rin-san?”

“The weird shit you’re always spouting,” Rin answers, not missing a beat.

Rei looks up at him, sends him a smile that makes Rin’s chest do an uncomfortable squeezing thing.

“That wasn’t a compliment.”

“But you said that you find it appealing, therefore it is a compliment, is it not?”

Rin’s frown is only halfhearted. It drops completely when Rei places his textbook on the floor, gets onto his knees to shuffle a bit closer. Rin has to tip his chin up to look at him.

“Rin-san, there is something I’ve been wanting to try.”

Rin lifts his eyebrows. “That sounds ominous.”

Rei quirks a small smile. “Hopefully the experience will prove your reservations unfounded.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better,” Rin says, though he uncrosses his legs so Rei can come closer still, feels a jolt when Rei takes hold of his shoulders.

“Relax, Rin-san,” Rei says, mostly teasing. “And close your eyes.”

Rin gives him a bemused look, but does as he’s asked. He resists the urge to lick his lips, heart thrumming in anticipation. He doesn’t know what he’s expecting other than it’s going to be a kiss, and kissing Rei is something he could do for days.

He feels Rei’s face next to his like a disturbance in the air, and then Rei’s nose on his cheek.

And then Rei’s forehead against his temple…

…And it kind of just feels like Rei’s face is smushed up against his, glasses and all.

He opens his eyes, tries to look sideways and gets a facefull of Rei’s hair. He can still smell traces of chlorine in it.

“I believe I have made an error,” Rei says quietly.

“What are you doing?”

Rei exhales, fingers tightening against Rin’s shoulders. Then he jerks back so suddenly that Rin jumps.

“Forgive me; my first attempt was a failure! I had studied the theory but finding the proper alignment was more difficult than I had anticipated!”

His cheeks are flushed and his glasses are slightly askew. Rin stares at him, flabbergasted.  

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“A butterfly kiss!” Rei says, straightening his glasses with a jerky motion. “I heard it mentioned by a classmate and I researched it and was struck by the urge to try it! However…” He averts his eyes, redness having risen to his ears. “I was unsuccessful.”

Rin’s mouth hangs open. He shuts it. “I thought you said you hadn’t looked up the tactics of kissing or whatever,” he says, once his brain straightens itself out.

Rei has the grace to look abashed. “Yes, well, I hadn’t until I heard about this.”

Rin rolls his eyes, but a slow grin spreads over his lips. He reaches for Rei’s glasses, carefully removes them. “I’m pretty sure you’ve gotta take these off for this.”

“Ah, yes. You are correct,” Rei says, though this doesn’t stop him from raising a hand in a gesture of habit, pausing right before his fingers reach the bridge of his nose.

Rin snorts. “Do I make you nervous?” he asks, folding up the glasses and setting them aside. The jitters are back tenfold, but now they make him want to leap to his feet, sing, do a stupid little dance. He tries not to grin but fails miserably.

“Perhaps a little bit,” Rei admits, the warm smile from earlier reappearing, tinged with embarrassment. He places his hands back on Rin’s shoulders, tips his head in question.  “May I try again?”

It’s a little insane he can say it so earnestly, a little insane that his hands feel so warm through Rin’s shirt, a little insane that Rin is smiling so hard it takes him a moment to regain control over his mouth.

He shrugs, crosses his arms like it’s no big deal, though he turns his face in invitation. “Yeah, I guess,” he says, and he feels the shift of weight as Rei leans back in, feels Rei’s smile against his cheek.

And one thing he loves about Rei is that when he fails a first time, he’ll just try again until he gets it right. 


End file.
